Intentions to Marry, 1914 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840456, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1914 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1914a), Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1914b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1914c).

Page 2158

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1914

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

574

24 July 1914

William Thomas Trethewey
Ivy Louisa Harper

William Thomas Trethewey
Ivy Louisa Harper
💍 1914/2466

Bachelor
Spinster

Sculptor

21
21

Linwood
Linwood

21 years
21 years

Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch

6193

24 July 1914

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	574
Date of Notice	24 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Trethewey	Ivy Louisa Harper
	💍 1914/2466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sculptor
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Linwood	Linwood
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch
Folio	6193
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

575

24 July 1914

George Leonard Evans
Ivy Emma Newnham

George Leonard Evans
Ivy Emma Newnham
💍 1914/2553

Bachelor
Spinster

Maltster
Clerk

39
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
4 1/2 years

St. Mary's Church Addington

6259

24 July 1914

Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

No	575
Date of Notice	24 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Leonard Evans	Ivy Emma Newnham
	💍 1914/2553
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Maltster	Clerk
Age	39	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Addington
Folio	6259
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Bean, Anglican

576

25 July 1914

John McKie
Lucy Jane Flavel

John McKie
Lucy Jane Flavel
💍 1914/2531

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

32
36

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
36 years

Methodist Church Papanui Rd. St. Albans

6236

25 July 1914

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

No	576
Date of Notice	25 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McKie	Lucy Jane Flavel
	💍 1914/2531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	32	36
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	36 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Papanui Rd. St. Albans
Folio	6236
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

577

27 July 1914

Joseph Tudor
Elizabeth Logan

Joseph Tudor
Elizabeth Logan
💍 1914/2395

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Tailoress

28
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 months
12 months

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church Christchurch

6154

27 July 1914

Rev. R. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

No	577
Date of Notice	27 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Tudor	Elizabeth Logan
	💍 1914/2395
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Tailoress
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church Christchurch
Folio	6154
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hoare, Roman Catholic

578

27 July 1914

Henry Percival Dobbs
Mary Ellen Morris

Henry Percival Dobbs
Mary Ellen Morris
💍 1914/2467

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Shop Assistant

30
27

St. Albans
Spreydon

18 years
27 years

Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch

6194

27 July 1914

Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

No	578
Date of Notice	27 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Percival Dobbs	Mary Ellen Morris
	💍 1914/2467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Shop Assistant
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Spreydon
Length of Residence	18 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Durham St. Christchurch
Folio	6194
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. N. Knight, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).